Alien Vampires – Drag You To Hell (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, electro-industrial-metal.
Content: Five years have already passed since the previous Alien Vampires album (cf. “Harshlizer”). Nysrok and Nightstalker are back on track and the least I can say is that they strike back in an even harder and more provocative way. Alien Vampires are like punks into industrial music and this album is a true source of sonic mayhem.
The regular album features 15 songs on which they got the help of several guest artists. Attila Csihar (singer of the black metal acts Mayhem and Sun 0), Sin Quirin (guitarist), Nero Bellum (Psyclon Nine singer) and Charles Edward (Mayhem guitarist) joined in to accomplish the new opus while the mastering had been executed by Jan L (Noisuf-X, X-Fusion).
The sound remains a divine twist between dark-electro elements and industrial-metal music. But the main strength of the band still is a cocktail of sonic violence and power. The guitar is carrying most of the song with an extra muscled element, which gives more volume to the sound. What I especially like in the global production is the perfection of the balance between electronics and guitar. Some parts of this work remind me a bit of their label mates Tamtrum although Alien Vampires sounds more professional and creative. “Psycho Bitch” featuring Sin Quirin (Ministry) & Charles Edward (Mayhem) is one those songs that reminds me of Tamtrum for its pronounced metal orientation.
The most noticeable tracks remain the electro-driven ones and all I can say is that this work reveals several potential hits. “All The Fakes Must Die” is the first sonic climax mixing hard-pumping beats and terrific cold sequences and a great tune.
But the absolute climax is joined with, “Sworn To Lust”, “Lock It”, “Touch”, “You Rule I Cum” and “Better Enemies Than Friends”. This is a succession of killing cuts, which are merging industrial elements together with (h)el(l)tronics (sometimes reminding me of early Wumpscut) and a kind of transcendental cadence. There are not many bands able to deliver such an amazing number of songs on one and the same album. Alien Vampires did it and the least I can say is that it was worth to wait during all these years to get such a great result.
Those guys rock, but what they’ve accomplished at their new album leaves is hard to belief. This band went through such a real transformation from their debut work till this latest opus. We get a disc featuring 15 songs without one to throw away.
And the limited edition brings us a few more great cuts. This disc features a great list of remixes and especially the more into industrial-minded projects like Xotox, Iszoloscope and Noiz+Zilenth delivered impressive remixes of one and the same song: “All The Fakes Must Die”.
Other noticeable remixes were accomplished by God Destruction, C-Lekktor, Madmancircus and the rather unknown Stereo Sin. Those remixes are more into the dark-electro vein.
The final track is a bonus cut entitled “I Love Death More Than Life”, which clearly sounds more into guitar and punk music mixed with electronics.
Conclusion: Alien Vampires strikes back in style and power! This is without a shadow of a doubt their most professional and successful work to date, which will for sure lead them to perform all over the electro-globe.
Best songs: “Sworn To Lust”, “Lock It”, “Touch”, “You Rule I Cum”, “Better Enemies Than Friends”, “Unidentified”, “All The Fakes Must Die” + “All The Fakes Must Die – Iszoloscope Remix”, “All The Fakes Must Die – Noiz + Zilenth Remix”.
Rate: (DP:9)DP.
Band: www.facebook.com/AlienVampires
Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
